# Can we firmly state that Straight Dope Community is more educated than any other internet community? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 28, 2012, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415 "2012-11-28T23:14:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/21 "2012-11-29T03:02:10Z")
Precisely my point, **ThelmaLou**. I can read CS boards all day long and not get a fraction of the entertainment and information that I get here. ---
**Author:** ![panaccione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@panaccione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panaccione)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/22 "2012-11-29T07:46:00Z")
We’re mostly liberal and atheist it seems. So we got that going for us. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/23 "2012-11-29T08:43:19Z")
Oooo! Are we going somewhere? Goody! ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/24 "2012-11-29T10:09:31Z")
Arrogant and painfully not true. “Debate” almost always is replaced by pedantry and shouting at each other. Politics threads are next to pointless, there is absolutely no political discussion on this forum, just lots of people shouting and not listening to anyone else. The smartest people usually don’t care about how smart they appear and definitely don’t keep asking questions about it. ---
**Author:** ![DrumBum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@DrumBum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrumBum)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/25 "2012-11-29T12:59:35Z")
What would be your definition of “most educated” ? I have multiple university degrees, as do many others here, but I am not sure that is much of a measure. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/26 "2012-11-29T13:04:01Z")
No, but we’re definitely more self-congratulatory than most. ---
**Author:** ![MegaBee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f0a364/32.png) [@MegaBee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MegaBee)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/27 "2012-11-29T13:08:53Z")
No. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/28 "2012-11-29T13:18:55Z")
Not really. But maybe, if we could solve: **14 k of g in a f p d** ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/29 "2012-11-29T13:22:21Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > I think the great thing about the SDMB is the _breadth_ of knowledge to be found here. Sure, there may be other communities with a high number of graduate degrees, but I’m betting those communities are more narrowly focused in particular fields. Reddit and Something Awful have just as wide a net of topics they cover, and I don’t follow Reddit so I don’t know about them, but Something Awful has successfully avoided the unattractive “aren’t we so smart for posting on a message board” vibe. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/30 "2012-11-29T14:59:53Z")
> [@MegaBee](#): > > No. Agreed. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/31 "2012-11-29T16:22:24Z")
> [@taskmgr.exe](#): > > What basing it upon, can we say that? It sounds like you could do with a little additional English education. ---
**Author:** ![phouka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c5a1d2/32.png) [@phouka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phouka)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/32 "2012-11-29T21:59:38Z")
**Freddy** , he’s learning English as a second language. He’s stated that he’s fine with people correcting his grammar/spelling usage, but there’s no need to snark at him. **taskmgr.exe** , it would probably be better to say “What are we basing it upon, that we can say this?” ---
**Author:** ![taskmgr.exe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@taskmgr.exe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taskmgr.exe)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/33 "2012-11-29T23:03:33Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > It sounds like you could do with a little additional English education. I had no right to murder the English language. I sincerely apologize for what I did to your precious language. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/34 "2012-11-29T23:09:39Z")
I knows I’se got t’ smarts in buckets, yo. BUCKETS! ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/35 "2012-11-29T23:10:43Z")
I look for things … ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/36 "2012-11-29T23:21:17Z")
If this message board is supposed to be more educated than any other, then why is Great Debates such a complete and utter cesspool? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/37 "2012-11-29T23:22:30Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > **Yoyager** is correct, IMHO. > The breadth of knowledge available on this board might be a better metric. > After all, formal education is not everything. > > I certainly feel like this a remarkably intelligent group of folks, and I have been to many different places on the Internet. The group is self-mocking when someone gets too pretentious and yet notices when a post is cogent and useful to the topic. By that new metric, I agree. No matter how arcane the reference, someone here gets it. Plenty of someones in fact. And any subtle joke I come up with after reading post N in a thread has been stolen by someone else by post N + 5. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/38 "2012-11-29T23:32:20Z")
I think if you restrict the field to general interest internet communities, it might be in the running. Obviously forums dedicated to some specific PHD level subject matter would beat it. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/39 "2012-11-30T18:19:12Z")
I think most of us are at least smart enough to know how dumb we are…know what we don’t know and are willing to admit it. What we have here is a collection of mostly intellectually curious people. People who question, and enjoy learning new things, and mostly don’t get too butt hurt when they find out they believed, or were taught was wrong. On many message boards, the membership would have no idea what “cite?” even means, and you couldn’t explain it to them if you tried. You post something in GQ, you better be prepared to defend it, and there is no sense that the truth should be decided by vote or popularity of the poster. We also distinguish between fact and opinion. Many message boards fail on this point. We also have decent moderation that is mostly fairly applied. It seldom changes the outcome, but people don’t even get banned for saying a mod was wrong. (in the right forum, without insults, etc.) Pretty much every other board (but one) I have been a member of, the mods will ban people for petty personal reasons, while the “cool kids” get to do whatever they please. We also value spelling and grammar. Being a regular on this board has improved mine over the years. Most places, they don’t even try, and may even ban you if you mention it. ---
**Author:** ![PatriotGrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2012, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415/40 "2012-11-30T21:02:39Z")
> [@Kevbo](#): > > We also distinguish between fact and opinion. Many message boards fail on this point. Nah, that’s easy. Anything liberal or Democratic or atheist is truth, anything conservative or Republican or libertarian or religious is opinion, and false , evil opinion at that. Duh! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-firmly-state-that-straight-dope-community-is-more-educated-than-any-other-internet-community/642415.md?page=3)